| Artists who happen to be Christians
By Shaun Booth
A&E Editor
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Karin Bergquist (from Over The Rhine) sings soulfully to a Calvin crowd Saturday Night.
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Many people at Calvin have viewed the recent Festival of Faith and Music as nothing more than a meager spinoff of the Festival of Faith and Writing. This accusation could not be further from the truth. Linford Detweiler of Over the Rhine articulated the importance of the festival well in his workshop when he said, “There is no forum for songwriters to discuss their art as there is in literature or visual art, so this weekend has been amazing.”
Later that day from the stage his wife and fellow band member, Karin Bergquist, declared Ken Heffner the organizer of the event to be a national treasure.
The festival was a two-day event that consisted of workshops during the day on Friday and Saturday. On Friday night Dave Brown performed with Zollo. The culmination of the event took place on Saturday night with a three-and-a-half hour concert which showcased the talent of seven artists. Each artist performed an approximately 20 minute set.
The evening started with Denison Witmer performing acoustic songs in the humble way for which he is known. He looked like he was holding a stand-up bass in his lap. His small stature and shy demeanor made him accessible to the crowd; he was not intimidating as some solo performers tend to be. He shared his confessional lyrics slowly over his impressive guitar work, which to my surprise included some soloing. His short set was followed by Don Peris of the Innocence Mission. Peris decided to play songs from his solo projects.
He said, “I thought about playing the guitar parts from the Innocence Mission, or even some of my wife’s songs, but I thought this would be better.”
After his twenty minute set, which included soft songs strummed on his electric fender, Peris was joined on stage by Witmer. The duo produced beautiful songs with Witmer playing rythmn on acoustic guitar while Peris would play lead and solo over Witmer’s groundwork. They got the concert off to a solid start with this set, and I believe they surprised many of the audience members with the quality of their work.
Next on the bill was David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower. Edwards had been to Calvin before with his entire band for what Heffner called “one of the most terrifying concerts” he has ever attended. Edwards was not terrifying when performing by himself, but he was definitely haunting. With his downcast look and ancient instruments he delivered the news of redemption. The riffs he played on the pear shaped, long necked instrument were trance-like and perfect for allowing his voice to exercise its power. The music brought images of fire and brimstone to mind, but the words sang in Eugene’s baritone forced the audience to pay attention to the words as well. Eugene fused together these two elements to have the audience hanging on every note and word for his twenty minute set.
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Daniel Smith plays to a receptive Calvin crowd.
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Daniel Smith then provided the audience with what was probably the starkest contrast in all of concert history. Smith came on stage with a brown suit and a string of bells tied around his left ankle. He said that this was his kick drum. Smith set up an overhead projector and began his twenty minute sing-along. The audience members who were not familiar with Smith or his band the Danielson Family were shocked when he began to belt out what seemed to be elementary lyrics in a voice that is beyond the realm of falsetto. Despite some of the audience laughing uncontrollably Smith plugged along with songs such as, “The Dragon Ain’t the Love.”
The audience slowly warmed up to the idea of Smith and by the end of his set, he was a crowd favorite. He was the only performer to receive a standing ovation.
I had the privilege of seeing the entire Danielson Family perform last year in New York as part of the College Music Journalism conference. It was while watching this that concert in New York that I realized the genius of Daniel Smith. He does not perform to predominately Christian audiences on a regular basis. When the Danielson Family took the stage at a trendy New York club, the audience’s jaws collectively dropped to the floor. They simply did not know how to react.
While Smith may catch your attention with his shrieking voice and goofy outfits, at the center of his music lays the message of the gospel. The message comes through clearly partially because he presents his humor sarcastically. The sarcastic delivery cancels out the humor and leaves the audience with nothing solid to hold onto except the simple lyrics that portray the love of God in a childlike way that is easy for any audience member, believer or non-believer, to understand.
Smith wore blinders on his head throughout the show. He did not explain the significance of them, but my guess is that they forced him to focus on his audience. This is just another sign that he is a true performer, focused on the reaction of his audience.
The next performer that caught my attention was David Bazaan, the lead singer of Pedro the Lion. Bazaan played almost all new songs that have not yet been recorded. Bazaan is a wonderful lyricist and this was never more obvious than when the only thing accompanying his voice was a simply strummed guitar. He gave his take on the war with his song “Backwoods Nation.” The song addresses the lives that the boys of our nation will leave when they go off to war.
The highlight of the evening was Bazaan’s closing song. He played “Be Thou My Vision.” He got through the first verse and then made a very obvious mistake on a chord change, this brought him to a halt and forced him to apologize. This brought out the beauty in Bazaan’s performance and presence, as strange as it may sound. He comes to the audience from a place that is overtly worldly and full of flaws, but he is comfortable with this fact. He does not preach from the songwriter platform but rather takes snapshots of real life and lets them speak for themselves. So when he sang “Be Thou My Vision,” I felt as though I was looking in on a man pleading to God, not a performance. That is why people are able to relate to Bazaan because of his honesty. He brings the gospel message to his audience while not trying to censor his sinful nature, but rather lets it speak as the necessity for the Gospel.
Over the Rhine closed the evening and the weekend with a simple twenty minute set that had Bergquist behind the mic and Detweiler at the piano.
The Festival of Faith and Music had a strong showing for its first year in existence, not because of the attendance but because of the content of the weekend that will leave the attendees talking for weeks to come.
I do not doubt that this is an event that will continue to grow in the coming years. It will become easier to bring in recognizable names with the list of performers and workshop leaders that was compiled for this event. This year’s event will be the groundwork for what Heffner hopes will become a successful biannual event.
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